Oyster opening apparatus



March 20, 1956 B. GAETTI ET AL 2,733,546

OYSTER OPENING APPARATUS Filed March e, 1955 FIG. I.

u. azi- IN VEN TORS.

205527 5- 645777 MAL/AM- J P/TTMA/V United States Patent OYSTER OPENING APPARATUS Robert B. Gaetti, Torrington, and William S. Pittman, Bristol, Conn.

Application March 6, 1953, Serial No. 340,872

1 Claim. (Cl. 17-9) This invention relates to apparatus for opening bivalves, and is especially adapted for the separation of the shells of oysters without the use of a hand knife.

One object of this invention is to provide an apparatus of the above nature which will cause the upper half of the oyster shell to be separated from the lower half thereof, the upper shell being caused to drop into a receptacle.

A further object is to provide an apparatus of the above nature which will be simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install and manipulate, compact, ornamental in appearance, and very efiicient and durable in use.

With these and other objects in view, there has been illustrated on the accompanying drawing, one form in which the invention may conveniently be embodied in practice.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 represents a top plan view of the apparatus and showing in dotted lines the upper section in partly open position.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the same with parts broken away, showing in dotted lines how the base of the apparatus is attached to the table.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view on an enlarged scale, taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Referring now to the drawing, in which like reference numerals denote corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral indicates the base of the apparatus having forwardly diverging or tapered sides 11 and 12. The base 10 is provided with an open substantially rectangular recess or nest 13 having curved rear edges 13a, 13b within which is fitted a concave soft rubber pad 14 having longitudinal ribs 15. The rear of the pad seats under a rib 130. The base 10 is secured by wood screws 16, 16a and 17, 17a to a table T to which the apparatus is permanently attached.

At the rear of the base 10, provision is made of a cylindrical stepped hole 18 having an enlarged bottom recess 19 within which a circular head 21 of a vertical bolt 20 is tightly and non-rotatably secured.

The top member 22 of the apparatus is made of a narrow tapered shape, and provided with a downwardly extending inclined boss 23.

In order to grip the top half of the oyster shell securely during the operation of opening the oyster O, provision is made of a flat knife blade 24 having a beveled lower edge 25 and a pointed end 26.

The blade 24 is secured to the bottom of the inclined boss 23 by means of a pair of machine screws 27, 28 fitted into tapped holes 29 and 30.

2,738,546 Patented Mar. 20, 1956 In order to manipulate the top section of the oyster opening apparatus, provision is made of a flat elongated shank 31 preferably made integral with the top member 22.

At the rear end of the top member 22, provision is made of an upstanding collar 32 within which is an aperture 33 surrounding a plurality of roller bearings 34.

The top member 22 is adapted to rest by gravity on a Weak coil spring 35 which is seated upon the top of the base 10 above the stepped hole 18.

Operation In operation, the base 10 of the oyster opening apparatus will first be secured to the table T by means of the wood screws 16, 16a, 17, 17a, and the bushing 32 of the top member 22 will then be fitted over the bolt 20, so that the spring 34 will provide for resilient action between the top member 22 and the base 10. When it is desired to open an oyster 0, it will be placed in the concave nest of the rubber pad 14 in the base 10, and the operator will then push the top member downwardly, until the knife blade 24 engages the rough upper surface of the top shell of the oyster. The handle shank 33 will then be twisted around the bolt 20, as an axis, to slide the upper half of the shell laterally from the lower half, from the position shown in full lines to a position beyond that shown in dotted lines of Fig. 1. The upper valve of the oyster will then drop over the edge of the table into a receptacle, not shown.

While there has been disclosed in this specification, one form in which the invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that this form is shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention is not to be limited to the specific disclosure, but may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all the modifications and embodiments coming within the scope of the following claim:

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new and for which it is desired to secure Letters Patent is:

In an apparatus for opening an oyster, a base plate having an elongated forwardly diverging upwardly fac ing recess, an upwardly concave soft rubber pad fitted into said recess, an upstanding bolt non-rotatively mounted in the rear end of said base beyond said recess, an elongated top member loosely embracing said bolt at its rear end and having a handle at its front end, a coiled spring surrounding said shaft and engaging said base and said top member, said top member having a downwardly extending inclined knife blade for engaging the rough surface of the upper valve of an oyster, whereby said upper valve may be separated from the lower valve by pressing downwardly said top member and twisting it around said bolt as a pivot.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 210,032 Heimlich Nov. 19, 1878 332,403 Leduc Dec. 15, 1885 845,521 Carlson Feb. 26, 1907 1,071,352 Schmidt Aug. 26, 1913 1,510,313 Dickerson Sept. 30, 1924 2,000,075 Hallock May 7, 1935 2,136,816 Frazier Nov. 15, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS 384,044 Great Britain Dec. 1, 1932 

